Home Forums Lever Action Central Lever Actions - General Rossi 92 in 480 Ruger info needed

I have been intreasted in the Rossi 92 lever in the 480 Ruger caliber. I have a Super Red Hawk in 480 and like it. A fellow gun nut has one and I'm working on prying his fingers off of it. Not easy.
My questions are Rossi stopped making the 480. Why? Lack of sales or was there a safety reason. They still make the 454 which has a great deal higher pressure, so I would not think it would be safety.
Thanks in advance.

I suspect they just didn't sell a lot of them. I wanted one for a time (after they stopped making them) and saw a few on GunBroker but they're bringing more than they're worth (to me) nowadays. Think my desire has subsided now anyway because I'm getting a Ruger No. 1 .475 Linebaugh/.480 Ruger.

Rossi only made a hundred or so of the 480 rifles. They were a special run. If you see one for sale you better buy it, as about a million others want one also. I do not know why they never made more, as just about everyone who ever had one of their other 92's would like one. They quit making the 454 in 2015. I got one of the last ones apparently made from all the reject and junk parts left over at the end of the production it is a complete POS. Its been back to the factory and had the barrel replaced, and has been nothing but trouble since (not fixed), I have had it apart and back together about 50 times, and have replaced numerous parts. They are really great guns if you can find one or you get one that works well. My 454 is amazing when its running. They do show up from time to time on here. No body seems to know if or when they may start making all of the old models they used to. Apparently there was some issue when they lost or agreed to settle the big law suit. Some say they are going to start producing again this year?

I love my .454 Casull version!

I have both the 480 & 454,only shot maybe 20 -30 rounds each,have not hunted with either yet,the 454 had to sent back to the factory,it would not cock all the way when reloading a round in the chamber,for the price I think they are great guns,but I have just not spent enough time with them to know them well.

Well.... Bought one 480 to mess with. Loaded western powders maximum load. Measured quite a bit before shooting it. After a couple dozen rounds the headspace which was over maximum to begin with stretched another .028....... No thanks although it was faulty accurate.

Nothing special about yours, I've owned 6 Rossis over the years and every one of them was like that.

Never again.

Only about 100 or so produced? At a glance that seems to be low. I bought one in stainless and felt zero urgency to buy one at the time. The dealer ordered it and didn't mention a thing about scarcity. I'm thinking 'why would a company would go to the trouble of design, tooling, production in blued and stainless, testing, marketing and distribution for a run as small as a hundred?'. I certainly could be way off base.

You may be correct, I am only quoting conventional wisdom from other lever blogs. The 100 or so is purported to be some special run like Lipsey's. For all I know they have produced more. It sounds similar to the Ruger #1's, you always hear how they are only making a few, then you see them all over the place for awhile.

One thing for sure, the current manufacturer would likely be of little help in that regard; which is consistent with obtaining any other info from them regarding their guns, including information regarding parts, repairs, when they may start making more, which models, etc. Braztec runs a strange buisness model (piss off your customers as much as possilble), considering it seems there is a good market for their guns. Must be they sell alot of their guns outside the US, and they are not worried about it.